Friday, February 23, 2007
Parallel Peril
I trust you are all getting geared up for the Oscars this weekend, dear readers. You may not know this, but the Oscars are a big deal around the Mentok house. Some households stake their social reputation on a big Christmas party or a big summer BBQ. Some odder ducks wow the world with retro 80s costume parties. As for me and my house, we will honour the lords of Hollywood with our annual, kick-ass Oscar party.
It's the one time of year our household is truly on display, so it's a lot of stress for all of us making sure we have the perfect appetizers and that everything looks just so. At times like this I wish there were two of me.
But now that I think about it, there are actually an infinite number of versions of me. It would be nice if those lazy buggers could pitch in once in awhile.
Over at the Contrast Podcast, this week's theme is Alternate Versions. This reminds me of my long-time fascination with quantum theory... or what I think I understand of quantum theory anyway.
As I understand it, quantum theory says that a particle is not just a particle but is also a cross-section of a wave. This means that all other possible states of existence of that particle exist as further sections of that wave. The long and short: everything that can happen does happen in one or more of an infinite number of alternative universes.
Yes, this sounds very science fictiony, and certainly quantum theory has its critics and skeptics but many of its tenets have been measured, demonstrated and vouched for by a host of scientific luminaries, including no less than Einstein himself.
So this whole business of infinite alternate universes has always fascinated me ... and, I must admit, worried me a little. Let me explain.
Nearly 20 years ago, I was beavering away at my first post-college job. Every day, I drove the same route to work, straight down one of our city's main thoroughfare's. A few sections of the route went through residential areas. Sometimes, especially in those areas, there would be traffic snarls. Every day, day in and day out, for two years I drove that route. I knew every detail of it. Every tree, every bus-stop, every graffiti scrawl. There was nothing else for me to see on that route. Or so I thought...
Then one day it appeared: The House. Not a new house, but an elegant old heritage building that must have been pushing a century old. Not a little wee bungalow hidden behind some old trees, but a three-storey brick manor that loomed over all of the other houses on the block and most of the trees. It had clearly been there for as long as the city had been around.
But I had never noticed it before.
Impossible.
Where had it come from? For years, the thought of That House has bothered me. My half-joking explanation is that I must have somehow slipped into an alternate quantum reality. How else to explain it?
To make matters worse, it happened again just last week. I was driving along on the expressway to Home Depot. Believe me, as a homeowner I drive that route a lot. Once again, my eye was suddenly drawn to a huge monster house looming above the trees. The style of the house suggested the 70s and it look weathered enough to have been around for at least that long. Once again, it seemed implausible that I would never have noticed it before.
Later that same day, I was dropping my youngest son off at Beavers and we were very nearly in an accident. Two huge trucks ran afoul of each other on slippery roads and we came within inches of being schmooshed by them.
I thought "Wow, that poor bastard back in that quantum-universe-without-the-big-house is probably dead by now. Lucky thing I phased out of that timeline!"
Of course, I'm not really serious about this quantum-shifting business, but these mystery houses do bug me. How about you, dear reader? Have you ever had an unsettling experience you couldn't explain?
posted by Mentok @ 11:10 a.m.,
10 Comments:
-
At 6:26 a.m.,
Bathroom Hippo said...
-
If Al Gore wins anything or makes a speech I swear I'm gonna shoot someone.
You probably don't believe my stories but I will share this one anyway.
When I was younger (maybe 9 yrs old or so) I stayed at my friends house along with some others (5 people total). We slept out back and were amazed at all the stars, comets, meteors, etc that seemed to be moving like crazy. It was like a star-wars type experience. Anyway...a little later something I will remember for the rest of my life happened. All of the sudden a bright bright oval image appeared to the south west of the fence. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD... It wasn't in the distance...it was less than 20 feet away from us and it was probably 6 to 7 feet tall and 3 feet wide. But it was a glowing circle. Nothing like a flying saucer...but a glowing circle. We only saw it for 5 seconds...then it disappeared. It wasn't just me that saw it...there were others.
True story. And I've always remembered it like it happened yesterday, and have written about it several times. -
At 10:06 a.m.,
Mentok said...
-
It was "interesting" to see that Gore's oratory has not improved. I swear, three words into his speech and I was snoozing.
Does anyone remember that Pinky and the Brain episode that parodied Winnie the Pooh? I've searched for a YouTube of it to no avail. Instead of Christopher Robin they had Christopher Walken and instead of Eeyore they had Al Gore. It was killer! "We are building a bridge and it is a bridge to the future. On that bridge are many steps..."
As for your UFO experience hippo, one word : CYLONS! -
At 3:44 p.m.,
Grumps said...
-
What's really funny is that, if the election were held today, Gore would win and then the Republicans could go find a cave next to Osama's and live there because they'd have been truly poned by the U.S.
BTW, I'd rather listen to bores like Gore than the idiots and clouts like Bush who are trying to shove their religion down our throats and have no clue about life in the real world. -
At 4:12 p.m.,
Mentok said...
-
I hate to admit I actually had to look up the word "poned" as I had not previously encountered it. Fun word! I must use it more often.
As for who is more dislikable, Bush or Gore, why does it have to be a choice? Why can't we all just get along and agree that they're both dislikable?
While I don't want this to degenerate into a political debate, allow me to make four quick points on this topic:
1) Read Al Gore's bio. Far from being it touch with the "real world", he's every bit as much of a silver-spoon career politician as Bush.
2) Ditto Stephane Dion and Jack Layton. Those guys have no right to pretend to speak for middle class people.
3) In my view, real action on climate change is being blocked by extremist zealots ON BOTH SIDES. It could be argued that guys like Gore and Suzuki are "trying to shove their religion down our throats" in a different way.
4) I didn't suggest Gore was stupid or anything, just that he was dull, so, you know, chill out eh. -
At 8:06 p.m.,
Bathroom Hippo said...
-
Al Gore is not only a hypocrite, he's also a liar. -
At 11:29 p.m.,
Mentok said...
-
Yes, those are fun propaganda links you've provided. Those sorts of things are stock-in-trade to the profession.
I normally wouldn't defend Gore, but it annoys me when people get on about a particular politician being a liar. All politicians lie. They have to. Can you think of a single successful politician who hasn't been duplicitous at some point?
What you need to look for in a politician is a different quality. Not honesty, but 'strategic integrity' or something like that.
Here's Machiavelli's eternally wise words on the topic:
"...Our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft, and in the end have overcome those who have relied on their word...
...a wise lord cannot, nor ought he to, keep faith when such observance may be turned against him, and when the reasons that caused him to pledge it exist no longer. If men were entirely good this precept would not hold, but because they are bad, and will not keep faith with you, you too are not bound to observe it with them."
(The Prince, Chapter 18)
Old Nick says so many other smart things on this and other topics that its hard to know when to quit quoting! -
At 12:04 a.m.,
Elizabeth said...
-
A few months ago, I was driving along I-40, the main interestate in Tennessee, heading to visit my grandparents. And a plane fell out of the sky and landed right in front of my car. A F-11 Hellcat, if I remember correctly, on its way to an airshow. Anyway, I was convinced I was going to die for about 30 excruciating seconds, and I'm still convinced that in a parallel universe, I am dead. Which means I started smoking again that day. ;)
-
At 7:32 a.m.,
Grumps said...
-
I'm not a Gore fan, really, either. I was just trying to stir the proverbial chamber pot. I have little use for pols of any kind.
"Gentleman, your business is politics. Mine is running a saloon.: -
At 10:04 a.m.,
Mentok said...
-
Liz - actually it was an F6F Hellcat. You are such a mindtaker yourself - were you really there? I can't tell. ;-) But thanks for getting things back on topic
Grumps - good pot-stirring-manship. Anything that gives me an excuse to quote Machiavelli is fine by me! -
At 12:02 p.m.,
Dino said...
-
I was kind of hoping you'd have some pictures up from the party by now.
